Jessica Koslow

Sometime around 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 17, a giant windstorm hit Manzanar National Historic Site, located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains just north of Lone Pine. To Dan Kwong, the winds felt like they were blowing 80 miles an hour. The dust was gusting sideways, and he could not see 10 feet in front of his face.

When the dirt settled, Kwong was able to see that much of his and his fellow volunteers’ hard work was smashed to the ground. In 2023, the staff of Manzanar National Historic Site announced it would rebuild its WWII baseball field, which was used when more than 11,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly incarcerated between 1942 and 1945. The newly finished announcer’s booth was still standing, but the storm had destroyed most of the fencing on the first base side.

“It was just heartbreaking,” Kwong said. “To watch it slowly give way and just, bam, smash down. It’s the third time we’ve had damage from wind, but this was just absolute obliteration. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Growing up in Encino, Nancy Silverton remembers shopping at small businesses with her parents. Unlike the Encino of today, populated by mini-malls, it was a town of tiny shops and markets, like the family-owned Jurgensen’s Grocery Company, Owl Rexall pharmacy and Gibson Girl boutique.

Silverton’s maternal grandfather was a doctor in Yonkers, New York, who practiced out of an office above their home. Her paternal grandfather was a jeweler in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, whose shop was the community gathering place. Her parents were “small-town people.” 

Although she wanted to, Silverton never went into a department store or a fast-food chain restaurant—until much later in life. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

It is where the Beastie Boys created some of their most iconic work — “Check Your Head,” “Ill Communication” and “Hello Nasty” — and where they filmed the “Pass the Mic” music video. It was a 1,600-plus square foot studio, label headquarters, clubhouse, skate spot, basketball court: a creative anything-goes space that, post-Beasties, has been home to Han Cholo Jewelry, X-Large Clothing and Mad Decent Recordings. Recently, Courtney Barnett filmed her video in the back for “One Thing at a Time.”

The place is G-Son Studios in Atwater Village, an old ballroom that is known today as one of the most mythic creative hideouts in LA. The legend goes that around 1990, when Atwater Village had a more small town USA vibe, the Beastie Boys arrived from New York City with record label money in their pockets. They decided to set up their own recording studio on Atwater’s main strip.

On the roof of the building, an old sign that used to read Gilson Plumbing and Heating now only listed “G son.” The studio’s name was decided thus for the place where the trio would launch Grand Royal, the label and magazine, and catapult themselves to global superstardom. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

Throughout his career — from artist to teacher to principal to CEO — John Lawler has always been on the same mission: equity and access to arts for all kids. He has worn many hats: an award-winning director and writer, the co-founder of two nonprofits and the principal of two nationally recognized arts high schools.

“Arts education means more than just creating young artists,” said Lawler. “It’s about how they will do in school — kids with an arts education are three to five times more likely to graduate and get into college than kids who don’t have arts. There are such incredible benefits and outcomes that go beyond what people normally think of.”

As the CEO of P.S. ARTS, based in Downtown LA and one of the largest and most well-established arts providers, Lawler oversees arts programs in public schools that cannot afford them. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Men die by suicide at almost four times the rate of women in the United States. Robb Pollard had no idea this was the case, although he himself has struggled his entire life with depression and even contemplated suicide twice.

“Until I moved to America, I thought that was all normal; it was how everybody feels,” said Pollard. “I shut those emotions down.”

After watching her husband experience severe ups and downs, in 2016, Pollard’s wife suggested he see a professional therapist. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

It’s fun to imagine the types of travelers that might have checked into the Red Star Motel when it first opened in 1937 on Rose Avenue in Venice — and even more interesting to think of its beach-bound visitors in 1975, when it changed ownership and was renamed the Golden Star Motel.

Today, guests and locals can stroll around and check into Aliza Hotel, a family-owned boutique property operated by siblings Daniel Galdjie and Donna Silver. Aliza, which is lovingly named after their grandmother, opened its doors in April 2024 after a year of thoughtful restorations, transforming the shabby motel into an “an airy and bright little hotel where uncluttered, stylish interiors, light colors, and curated art evoke the best elements of an LA vacation,” wrote Flaunt Magazine.

“My grandmother is still alive — she’s 95,” said Silver. “She still hosts and has us over for Shabbat dinners or holidays, and she cooks for everybody, like 50 to 75 people sometimes. So, the idea of being a very welcoming place, when guests come in, we’re here checking them in, that’s why we named it after her.” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

FIFA World Cup 2026 is coming this summer. LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games are on the horizon. LA is about to welcome the world to walk, shop, play and eat on its streets, and DTLA Alliance is taking its job seriously: to enhance the quality of life in the 65 square blocks of the Downtown Center, including Bunker Hill, the Financial District, Jewelry District and Pershing Square.

“As Los Angeles prepares for major events, our Downtown community will be a central area for economic opportunity and global celebration,” said Mayor Karen Bass. “I look forward to working alongside our DTLA stakeholders to continue our revitalization efforts that prioritize safety, cleanliness and vibrancy.”

On March 17 at the 2026 Trends & Outlook Breakfast at the LA Central Library, DTLA Alliance — a coalition of 2,000-plus property owners working with city, county and state officials and agencies—unveiled “Path to Progress.” . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

It is April 24 — Arbor Day — and Anne Wallentine is leading a tour of the Santa Monica History Museum’s current exhibition, “Roots and Branches: A Tree’s View of Santa Monica,” which explores how nature and humanity have coexisted — and often clashed — over centuries.

“I think it’s interesting when people come here, and they realize some of these streets all have the same trees planted on them,” Wallentine relayed. “I had the same questions: Why are there all these figs on just this one avenue? Why is this street planted with palms? These questions all relate to trying to understand why the city looks like it does today.”

Wallentine is filled with a renewed sense of purpose these days. The former curator at the museum was recently named executive director. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

John Arnold’s fingerprints are all across the San Gabriel Valley, most notably on the blueprints of the more than 1,000 housing units that his architecture/landscape firm, KFA, has designed.

KFA’s greater-Pasadena projects include Mayfield Senior School and the redesign of the Historic Register-listed Evanston Inn into 10 residential units. Arnold is currently leading the residential expansion of the Downtown Women’s Center, adding 97 units of supportive housing to Skid Row.

Arnold liked the Evanston Inn project so much that he recently moved into the court’s penthouse. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

There is lots to do in Marina del Rey, but as of April 2, a new kind of entertainment has opened its doors at the Villa Marina Marketplace: Escapology, the world’s largest live escape game franchise.

Escapology has 115 locations around the world, and according to CEO Burton Heiss, “That makes it really special that we’re finally in Marina Del Rey.” 

“It is such a vibrant community that, in some ways, maybe because of the big marina and ocean, it is lacking for entertainment options,” he explained. “Everyone wants to stay close to home, so we’re excited to bring our brand of entertainment here.” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.